Life — August 28, 1913 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is **primarily an advertisement**, not a satirical cartoon. It promotes Detroit Electric Cars for 1914, published by the Anderson Electric Car Company of Detroit, Michigan. The ad emphasizes practical features: price reductions, gear options (Worm or Bevel), battery capacity, and safety features like electric brakes. It highlights the company's "fifth successful season" and claims their manufacturing scale enables quality improvements and lower costs. The photograph shows the Anderson factory in Detroit, described as "the largest plant in the world devoted exclusively to the manufacture of electrically propelled vehicles." For modern readers: this represents the era when electric vehicles competed seriously with gasoline cars—before the Model T and mass production of gas engines dominated the market by the 1920s.